What the dead want, p.30
What the Dead Want, page 30
She could feel him leaning his weight against the door. The chain was stretched tight now, the door opening wider. Cold air rushing into the warm house.
She ran upstairs, stopping on the landing. ‘Don’t come in Billy, my dad will be home soon.’
‘Your dad won’t be home for a long time, Eve. He’s at the Coroner’s Court in Stockford. He’s busy with the Master.’
As he spoke his small hand was sneaking round the edge of the door trying to find the chain.
Chapter EIGHTY-SIX
Eve was in trouble. Ridpath glanced at the clock on top of the bomb.
56
55
54
53
The green numerals seemed to be moving even faster.
Lardner had a smug smile on his face. ‘Cat got your tongue, Ridpath? Your wife died and now none of your family will be alive after today. My mission is fulfilled.’
45
44
43
Ridpath had to do something. But what? He looked around, desperately searching for an answer.
Clarence Montague stirred, lifting his head from the ground. ‘What? What happened?’
For a moment, Lardner was distracted.
Without thinking, Ridpath dived forward, throwing his whole body at the pathologist. The man fell backwards away from the bomb and the chair, with Ridpath on top of him.
A jolt of pain shot through Ridpath’s shoulder. Lardner lashed out with his legs trying to get the detective off him, kicking upwards.
Ridpath pressed down with his shoulder across the man’s face, struggling to stay on top.
Lardner took a bite out of his flesh. Ridpath’s shoulder screamed in pain as Lardner continued to bite, refusing to let go, his legs still kicking out.
The pain was too much, Ridpath had to pull away from the jaws. As he did, Lardner’s head came up and he tried to kick the bomb off the chair.
He kicked out once, twice, missing both times.
Ridpath pressed down again, this time using his forearm against the man’s throat.
Lardner was reaching out for the bomb using his foot, shifting his body, trying to kick the chair.
Ridpath pressed even harder, trying to cut off the man’s air supply, stop him resisting. The body went limp beneath him for a few seconds before the eyes flashed open again.
Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Ridpath punched downwards, connecting with Lardner’s head on the side of the temple. He struck again and again, feeling the crunch of his knuckles against Lardner’s nose.
He hit harder and harder and harder until he collapsed across the man’s body, gasping for breath, sweat dripping off his forehead.
Lardner didn’t move, the man was out cold.
Behind him, Clarence Montague was slowly sitting upright rubbing his head and groaning.
Ridpath glanced across at the bomb.
15
14
13
He dragged himself to his knees. For a second, Lardner groaned audibly and then fell silent again.
Ridpath crawled over and picked up the biscuit tin carefully from the chair, desperately trying to make sure he kept it as level as possible.
11
10
9
Slowly, he rose to his feet, his hands trembling as he stepped over Lardner’s unconscious body. Where should he go?
He saw the door to the coroner’s office over on the far wall. It was his only chance. He walked as quickly as he could towards the front of the court, skirting the coroner’s large oak desk and carefully stepping up to the raised dais.
The door was in front of him. But how could he open it?
He put the box down on the desk and twisted the door knob, his shoulder screaming in pain, opening the heavy door into the coroner’s office.
5
4
3
He was running out of time. He picked up the biscuit tin.
2
1
0
A loud buzz from inside the box. No time to put it down. Instead, he launched it into the coroner’s office, slammed the door shut and dived underneath the coroner’s desk, covering his head with his arms.
Nothing happened.
Slowly, he raised his head. Had Lardner been faking? Was the biscuit tin and the timer all an elaborate bluff to get him to come to the Coroner’s Court?
And then there was an enormous roar, the air seemed to be sucked out of his lungs and the world went black.
Chapter EIGHTY-SEVEN
Eve ran downstairs again, throwing all her weight against the door, trapping the hand.
A sharp squeal of pain, followed by, ‘You bitch, you’ll pay for that.’
He threw himself at the door. It shook and shuddered but held. The door rocked again. Through the frosted glass, she could see Billy’s face twisted in anger and aggression.
‘Go away, Billy. Please leave me alone!’
The answer was another slam of his body against the door. The chain was coming away from the jamb now.
Through the frosted glass, she saw Billy take a few steps back and then charge at the door with his shoulder.
It gave way, banging open, the frosted glass shattering from the impact. Billy fell through, landing on the floor at her feet.
She looked around her for something to hit him with.
Nothing.
Should she run to the kitchen?
He was getting up from the floor, his left arm hanging limply at his side. ‘Eve, you should’ve let me in. It would have been so much easier and quicker.’
The knife came up and pointed directly at her. She backed away towards the hall table.
He was on his knees now, rising to his feet. ‘I have to do this, Eve. I have my orders. But I’ll make it painless, you won’t feel a thing, I promise.’
She reached behind her, feeling something long and cylindrical on the table. She brought up the air freshener and sprayed it directly into Billy’s eyes.
He flinched and screamed.
She sprayed more, aiming directly at his face.
The scent of her mother filled the hallway. A scent she remembered from her childhood. Roses. The scent of summer. Her mother’s scent.
He went down, scratching at his eyes.
She vaulted Billy’s prone body and ran upstairs.
He was already getting to his feet. ‘You’re gonna pay for that, bitch.’
Eve saw the sandwich and milk on the windowsill. She picked them both up, throwing them at his head.
He ducked as the glass full of milk shattered against the far wall.
His eyes were read and his skin blotchy. ‘I’m going to enjoy making you suffer,’ he snarled.
She ran up to her bedroom, slamming the door and locking it behind her. What could she do? She tried to pull her cupboard across the door but it was too heavy.
She could hear him shouting.
‘You should have let me in when I asked you, Eve. Now I’m going to kill you slowly and very, very painfully.’
Chapter EIGHTY-EIGHT
Ridpath woke up, his head ringing. Emily was standing over him, her mouth was moving but he could hear no words, no sounds, just a loud, persistent ringing in his ears.
He tried to sit up but fell back down to the ground, his head hitting the floor.
He had to do something. What was it he had to do?
Emily was moving her lips again. Gradually, her voice was coming into focus, piercing through the ringing in his ears.
‘Are you okay, Ridpath?’
He shook his head trying to clear it.
‘What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?’
Eve.
That was it. Eve was being attacked.
He tried to sit up again but Emily pushed him down.
‘Need to go, Eve, she…’
‘Ridpath, you’ve just been in an explosion. We need to get you out.’
He could smell burning. Where was he? He seemed to be on the other side of the Coroner’s Court next to the door.
‘These EMTs are going to help you.’
He shrugged them off. ‘Need to get to Eve… She’s being attacked.’
Why doesn’t she understand?
‘What?’
He took three deep breaths, as he was being picked up by two burly medics. ‘Eve is being attacked. Lardner sent someone to kill her. We need to stop him. I—’
Emily’s eyes opened wide and Ridpath knew she had finally understood.
‘Take me to her. We need to go now.’
‘Where Ridpath?’
‘My house, she’s being attacked in my house.’
As Ridpath was being carried down the stairs by the medics, Emily was on her phone. ‘Control, we need an emergency team, code red, to 13 Glebe Close, attack in progress on an underaged female. That is a code red, all units to respond immediately.’
‘Roger that, DS Parkinson. ETA five minutes. Over.’
At the bottom of the stairs, Ridpath shrugged off the medics again. ‘I need to go to her NOW!’
Emily made a decision. ‘Put him in my car.’
‘But he needs medical attention. We don’t know the extent of his injuries…’
‘Put him in my car,’ she ordered.
The phone in Ridpath’s pocket began to ring.
Chapter EIGHTY-NINE
She could hear his feet stomping up the stairs and suddenly there was pounding at her door. ‘Open up, Eve. You can’t escape.’
She looked for her phone, finding it next to her laptop. She picked it up but her hands were shaking and it fell to the floor.
The doorknob rattled and he banged on it with his fist. ‘Open up now, Eve.’
Then it went quiet. Was he still there? She needed to get help.
Her phone? Where was her phone?
She looked all around her room, eventually finding it underneath her table next to the bin. What was it doing there?
She ran across the room and picked it up.
It was still quiet in the hallway. Where was Billy and what was he doing? Why was it so quiet?
Her hands were still shaking as she dialled the number.
One ring.
Two rings.
‘Dad,’ she whispered holding the phone close to her mouth.
‘Eve.’
They spoke at the same time.
‘Are you okay?’
‘He’s here, Dad.’
‘Billy Diamond is in the house?’
She was breathing heavily. ‘He’s outside my bedroom. What should I do, Dad?’
‘I’m coming.’
Eve could hear the high-pitched wail of the siren through the phone. ‘I’m scared, Dad, he rang the bell and wanted to come in…’
As she spoke, there was a loud crash against her bedroom door, followed by another and another. The wood began to splinter.
‘Dad…’ she shouted into the phone.
Another crash and the metal leg of the coat stand from the hallway appeared in a hole in the door.
A thin, white hand snaked through the hole and began to turn the doorknob.
‘Dad!’ Eve screamed.
Chapter NINETY
The phone went dead in Ridpath’s hand. Her last two screams had cut him to the quick.
He tried Eve’s number again but there was no answer. Why wasn’t she answering?
He banged his fist on the dashboard. ‘Hurry, Emily, faster.’ Every part of his body ached and his head was throbbing, but all he could think of was Eve.
He would never forgive himself if something happened to her. He should have been there protecting her. Wasn’t that what a dad was supposed to do? Lardner had warned him and he had continued working, leaving Eve to fend for herself.
How could he have been so stupid?
He banged his fist on the dashboard. ‘Move it, move it!’
The siren wailed as Emily slalomed through the traffic, using the hard shoulder whenever she could.
Would they get there on time?
Ridpath rang Eve’s mobile again.
Still no answer.
‘Faster, Emily, faster…’
Outside, the suburbs of Manchester raced by. The snow was still falling but more slowly now, the flakes drifting down to cover the trees in a white icing. Occasionally, the white snow picked up the red and blue lights from the car, reflecting the colours back.
Other cars pulled to the side, seeing the urgent blue and red lights in their rearview mirrors.
Emily’s face was solemn, her jaw clenched tight, concentrating on the road in front of her.
Ridpath rang Eve’s phone for the third time.
Still no answer.
‘Eve!’ shouted Ridpath into the mouthpiece.
But there was no response from the other end of the phone.
He recognised the roads now, they were getting near to his house. Would they be in time? Eve wasn’t answering her phone. What would he do if he lost her? He’d already lost Polly, he couldn’t lose Eve too.
Emily turned left at the top of his road. The car started sliding towards the fence at the corner, before finally it gripped the road and accelerated forward.
Three police vehicles were parked outside the house, lights flashing.
The car slid to a stop. Ridpath was already out of it before it stopped moving.
His front door was wide open, the frosted glass shattered.
He limped up the garden path, shouting, ‘Eve, Eve.’
There was no answer.
He could hear Emily’s footsteps behind him, crunching on the snow. He stepped over the broken door, shattered glass lay in the hallway. A can of air freshener lay on the floor and the coat stand was missing. A large wet stain covered the wall and the place smelt of a strange mixture of roses and stale milk.
A bulky copper came out from the kitchen, his face revealing no emotion. ‘We arrived too late, we couldn’t help her.’
‘Eve!’ Ridpath shouted.
No answer.
He climbed upstairs, every step causing a sharp pain to shoot up his leg. The door to Eve’s room was open with two of the panels splintered, fragments of wood lying everywhere.
‘Eve,’ he shouted again.
From inside the room, he heard whimpering.
Eve was sat on the floor, her arms wrapped around her legs, her head resting on her knees. Next to her lay Billy Diamond. His body stretched out and his head leaking blood.
He rushed over to her and wrapped her in his arms.
‘I didn’t mean to kill him, Dad, he had a knife.’
‘Shush, baby, shush.’
‘I hit him with the lamp when he came through the door. The lamp Mum gave me. I think it’s broken.’
He held her tight. ‘Shush, Eve, it’s all right, don’t talk now.’
The knife was still in Billy Diamond’s hand. A hand with a swallow tattoo in the gap between the index finger and the thumb.
He hugged her even tighter. ‘It’s alright, Eve, I’m here now.’
Emily came into the room with the burly policeman. ‘The responders have called for an ambulance for Eve, it should be here in three minutes. Another one is coming for the boy. They didn’t want to move him without the medics being here.’
‘He’s still alive?’ whispered Eve.
Emily nodded. ‘He’s out cold. You must have given him a hell of a whack young lady.’
‘Get the ambulance here before I finish him off,’ Ridpath ordered.
He picked up his trembling daughter and, holding her close, slowly walked down the stairs to the kitchen. ‘It’s okay, Eve, it’s okay.’
She held him tighter.
‘You’re safe now, I’m here.’
Outside the window, the snow had stopped falling and the sun had begun to peer through the clouds.
It was just another winter’s day in Manchester.
Friday, February 23.
Two weeks later.
Chapter NINETY-ONE
Ridpath limped into Mrs Challinor’s hospital room. Her daughter, Sarah, was already there, carrying two bags.
‘You’re finally leaving,’ he said.
‘Can’t say I’ll miss the place.’
Mrs Challinor folded up a white T-shirt, placing it and some toiletries in one of the bags held by her daughter.
‘You didn’t need to come, Ridpath.’
‘I wanted to see if you needed any help leaving.’
‘Thank you for the thought. Where’s Eve?’
He pointed back towards the corridor. ‘Outside, on her iPad, waiting for us.’
‘Is she okay?’
Ridpath shrugged his shoulders. ‘As well as can be expected. She’s sleeping with the light on now and sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares.’
‘You’re getting help for her?’
‘The therapist says she’s strong and focused. He hopes there won’t be any long-term issues.’
‘But he doesn’t know?’
‘They never do.’
‘You haven’t been to the coroner’s office?’
‘I’m still persona non grata. But I heard Clarence Montague was leaving, going back to the dark, satanic mills of Surrey apparently. After being hit by Lardner, he suffered concussion and when the bomb exploded, he was cut by flying shards of glass and splinters. According to him, he didn’t sign up for such treatment when he came north to Manchester. Helen Moore has asked me to return when he goes at the end of the month.’
‘Are you going to do it?’
‘Honest?’
She nodded.
‘I don’t know. At the moment, I don’t want to make any decisions until Eve is settled and happy. She’s all that matters right now. I’m on compassionate leave from GMP for as long as I want. Both Claire Trent and Steve Carruthers have told me to take my time. They’ve even confirmed my Inspector rank. Four years too late but hey, it’s the police.’
‘What happened to Billy Whatshisname?’
‘Billy Diamond? He woke up with a massive headache after Eve clouted him with the lamp. He’s been charged with eight counts of murder. They found seven bodies at TRACE with his DNA on them. The same DNA was also found, with Andy Golding’s, in the back of the van. He was the one who dumped the body, not his father. He’s been singing like a proverbial canary. Blaming everything on Lardner of course. Said that he was ordered to kill and had to obey because the Master, aka Lardner, had told him to murder the old people.’
